A Spoken Truth
by yokascruz
Summary: Bosco learns a painful truth while encountering Cruz in the locker room after work. BoscoxCruz Friendship. BoscoxFaith Friendship. PostxKingpin Rising.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Spoken Truth 1/2 (post scene to Kingpin Rising)  
Characters: Bosco & Cruz  
Summary: Bosco learns the truth about what Faith did for him.  
Disclaimer: They are not mine  
AN1: After seeing 'Kingpin Rising' I found myself disappointed that there wasn't more Bosco/Cruz interactionl. I'm no shipper, but I just really wanted to see more w/Bosco and Cruz other than their 'welcome back bosco' 'hey sarge' whatever lil exchange so here goes nothin'.

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People thinking they were vampires. Bosco shook his head at the thought as he started to strip off the layers of his uniform. He could not get pass the sick feeling in his gut at the thought of Dante's cold, vengeful look toward Faith. She had not seen it, neither had Sully, but Bosco had caught the look on their way out of that hell hole. He did not like it. If he had his way, he would have slammed that jagoff's face into the nearest wall for ever looking at Faith like that, but instead, he withheld his anger and followed his friends outside.

He stood in front of his locker now. The end of his first shift back. It went better than he expected. At least he got to spend some time with Faith.

She always amazed him, but more so today. He could not take his eyes off of her. Now that she was a Detective, her very essence spoke of authority and prestige. Yet, she was still the same ol Faith—confident, graceful, elegant.

_"You're right, your partner is good." _

Sully's words remained fresh in his mind. Faith was and always would be his 'partner'. There was no question of his loyalty to her and vice versa. Even now that she was a Detective, she did not talk down to Bosco.

Even if their status in the department was different, she still treated him like he had for so many years with her...an equal. And for that, he was grateful. Grateful that Faith did not treat him like he was made of glass even though he could tell she fought every instinct she had to comfort him, care for him, hell, mother him. She cared in a way no one else ever had, aside from Rose. And he would be lying if he was to admit that he did not return those feelings. Probably more strongly.

The locker room door swung open and Bosco instinctively looked toward Faith's old locker, waiting for her to appear there before he remembered that she was a Detective now. He sighed heavily to himself and proceeded to slip into his off-duty clothes, some jeans, a black T and his leather jacket.

His eyes remained focused off to the side, still curious as to who had come into the room. That is when Cruz came into view, her back to him as she worked to open her locker.

"Hey," he greeted casually, causing Cruz to jump slightly as she turned to face him. The obvious tension in her features lessened slightly when she saw him.

"Hey," she replied, her voice raw of emotion, but her eyes warm and welcoming. There was something different about her now, she was not the same woman he had known and hated a year ago. Now, there was kindness in her eyes, and a beautiful smile on her lips that mesmerized him as he stared back at her.

"So, how was your first day back?" Cruz asked as she turned back to her locker and started grabbing her belongings.

"Good...I'm riding with Sullivan. It's—I don't know..." he paused, his eyes now downcast as Cruz turned back to look at him, "—it's different."

She noticed the sadness in his voice and immediately her heart ached for him, "she's still your partner, Bosco," she started, waiting for him to meet her eyes before she continued, "doesn't matter if you ain't riding together anymore."

He nodded, quite not hearing her, but agreeing anyway. He watched her back again as she zipped up her jacket. It had been so long since they were able to have a civil conversation with one another. He was amazed at the progress and how so many things had changed while he was in a coma.

Still, her tone of voice, even if she did not mean to, made him feel like she was talking down to him. She always had that presence of authority, her voice was always commanding and strong. He still remembers a time in his life when she could make him weak in the knees, make him do practically anything for her if she just asked. Those days were far over and now they were just two people existing together as Officers of the NYPD.

"What are you so happy about?" He questioned, noticing that the silly smile on her face still had not gone away. Cruz shrugged, not turning to face him as she spoke.

"This son of a bitch thought he could out smart me. He's goin away for a looong time," Cruz's voice was full of pride and her revelation caused a small chuckle to escape his lips. She whipped around, raising an inquiring eyebrow at him.

"What?"

Bosco shrugged, "nothing really. Just glad some things haven't changed."

She snickered, "don't you forget it."

There was a comfortable silence as Bosco slipped into his leather jacket and closed his locker. But instead of walking out of the room, his legs took him to stand beside her, leaning against the locker next to hers. He startled her when she looked up, unsure of the closeness that had not existed between them in so long.

"I just wanted—," he swallowed, "I just wanted to say—thanks—for what you did...with Mann...Monroe was a fool to—."

"Look, I don't like her, Bosco, but I don't regret what I did—I don't care if I had to go to prison to keep from ratting on one of my own. That's just the way I am—you know that."

Confusion creased Bosco's scarred yet still handsome features, "wait—who are you talkin about?"

"Yokas—she outsmarted that rat bastard Finney. She got full immunity and I got released," Cruz explained, oblivious to the complete and utter shock on Bosco's face.

"It was Faith?" He gasped, his mouth agape, his eyes wide, "it was her?—she—."

"You didn't know?" Cruz uttered in disbelief.

Bosco shook his head, "I thought—you..."

Cruz stood her ground, realizing she had said too much, but knowing that he should know the truth, "I wish I could take credit. What Yokas did—it was a public service. Ain't no body cryin over the son of a bitch."

Trying desperately to process what he was hearing, he spit out random words, not comprehending what he was saying, "but—why? Why'd she—."

"You don't need me to answer that question for you," Cruz said softly.

Bosco's eyes filled with tears. A thousand emotions ran through him. Faith. Caring, level-headed, logical Faith...killing Donald Man. The reality of the situation hit him painfully, cutting straight through to his heart.

_"I saved your life that night and you won't do this for me. You're gonna sit there, and you're gonna look at me, and you're gonna tell me that you won't shoot a damn target..." _

The guilt tore through him just as harshly as those four bullets had nearly a year ago. Pulling that card on her was not fair at all. He regretted saying those words that night, but now, knowing what she had done. It broke his heart to think of how much pain she must have been in to kill another human being. She killed a man. She killed a man for him.

"You alright, Bosco?" Cruz's voice brought him back to reality because for a moment there he was near drowning in his mind.

"I'm good," he managed to say, meeting her eyes one final time before turning and walking away, "I gotta go." he called over his shoulder.

Cruz simply nodded. Knowing full well that her spoken truth would send Bosco running to confront Faith. She watched quietly as the locker room door swung shut, leaving her alone in the room.

She sighed heavily as she grabbed her bag and shut her locker.

Without a second thought, she slowly made her way home.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A Spoken Truth 2/2  
Author: Mandi  
Summary: Bosco confronts Faith.  
Disclaimer: They are not mine  
AN1: Thank you everyone who reviewedthe first part, I appreciate it immensely!  
AN2: I know this Bosco-confronting-Faith-about-Donald-Mann type scenerio is redundant in fanfic, but ah what the hell, I thought the first part needed a bit of closure.

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There was a bitter taste in the back of his mouth as Bosco left the locker room. His heart beat painfully in his chest after hearing the truth from Cruz. His eyes remained glazed over, the tears still threatening to fall. He was tired, worn from the day, but he knew he had to speak to Faith about this now.

Pushing his fatigue aside, he made his way to her office. He stopped at the doorway when he spotted her standing in front of her desk, her back to him as she made neat piles of the scattered papers across her desk top. He watched her tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, watched her sigh heavily to herself, and quickly found himself so completely entranced with her he was barely able to stand up straight when she turned around to face him.

"Bosco!" Faith breathed, clearly unaware that he had been standing there, "what's up?"

From the corner of his eye, Bosco noticed Jelly look up from behind his desk, but he ignored Faith's new 'partner' and continued to look at her, "hey—you leaving?"

Faith glanced back at her now tidied desk and nodded quickly, "yep, I was—."

"Good—I'll drive ya," he spoke, not letting her finish her sentence.

"No—that's alright, I'm good."

"I'm driving ya home, Faith. We need to talk." He demanded, somewhat urgently.

The tone of his voice did not sit well with Faith as she looked back at him suspiciously. After 13 years of riding together, she could tell when there was something bothering him. But tonight, she knew she had to get home to her daughter. Emily would be waiting, she would not go to sleep if her mother was not there. Whatever Bosco wanted to talk about would have to wait til tomorrow.

"Really, Bosco—I—," she tried to protest one last time, but again he cut her off.

"I'll wait outside." Was all he said, before he turned and left. Faith sighed, her shoulders slumping as she turned back to her desk and picked up her purse. While she slipped into her coat, scarf and beanie, Jelly stood from his desk.

"What's with him?" He asked harshly as he made himself a cup of coffee, "his first day back and already he thinks he owns the place."

Faith glared back at him. There was a few times when she would let Jelly's constant babble get on her nerves but this was one of those rare occasions. Having Bosco back at work was one of the few things she had been praying for the last few months. And hearing someone, even if it was her new partner talking in such a way about Bosco, infuriated her.

She bit her tongue to keep from saying anything she would regret later and instead simply uttered, "just let it go, Jelly."

Jelly looked astonished back at her, catching the hint of rage in her voice. He quickly recovered and shrugged nonchalantly, "whatever, Yokas. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah—night," she threw over her shoulder as she left their office. She made her way down the steps, nearly running into Cruz in the process.

"Yokas," Cruz greeted, quickly looking from side to side before returning her attention back to the Detective in front of her.

Faith nodded politely, "sarge," she replied.

As their eyes remained on one another, Faith tried to study the peculiar look on the smaller woman's face. She did not like the hint of urgency reflected in Cruz's dark eyes.

Cruz breathed in deeply before speaking, "he knows." Was all she said before turning and walking away.

Faith remained there, the news suddenly making her feel light headed. She walked over to the front desk and leaned against it for support. There was only one thing that she had in common with Cruz and that was the night that she murdered Mann. The thought of Bosco finding out nearly broke her heart. She knew it was something she should have told him herself, but she had hoped beyond reason that he would have never found out.

She could feel the tears stinging her eyes, but the pain in her chest drowned everything else out. How was she supposed to face him now? Did he think any less of her now? What was his reaction to the revelation? A million questions ran through her mind and she shut her eyes tight, her hand coming up to cover her face.

A few minutes went by before she was able to compose herself. She did not want to go out there and face him, but she knew there was no way of avoiding this dreaded conversation. Faith pushed the hair from her eyes before finally making her way out of the House.

Bosco was waiting at the bottom of the steps when she came through the doors. She met his sad eyes as she descended the steps slowly.

A small smirk came to his lips, "I thought I should wait here just in case you decided to run away."

Faith's voice remained passive as she replied, "I'm tired of running." He nodded slowly before leading the way to his car.

They walked silently to his Mustang around the corner. The drive to her apartment was rather uncomfortable. It was the first time in over a year she was riding in his car again. The tension was obvious between them, both wanting to say something, but not being able to.

Bosco parked along side the curb when they finally reached her apartment. He sighed to himself as he put on the brakes and sat back in his seat. He turned hesitantly to look over at Faith, who was staring out the window. After a moment, she turned her head and met his eyes. Her light eyes glazed over with tears as they gazed at one another.

He tore his eyes from hers first, knowing full well, looking at her right now would enable him to say what he wanted to. He placed his hands on the top of the steering wheel carelessly as he spoke, "I've been going through this—over and over in my head...I keep telling myself—it's not true—that you wouldn't..." his eyes closed for a moment as he fought to keep the emotion from his voice, but he failing miserably, choking back his tears, "god—Faith! What the hell happened?" He pleaded, turning to look at her again, "why?—."

Faith ran her fingers lightly across her brow, her tear filled eyes unable to meet his, "your heart stopped," she uttered softly, looking down at her hands in her lap, "...you know that?—you were dead, Bosco. You died—right there in my arms." she shook her head tiredly, "what would you have me do? Let him get away with what he did to you?"

Bosco bit his lips hard, he could only imagine how much pain she must have been in to do something so unlike her. It broke his heart, sharing the pain she had felt that night now as they sat side by side, "I thought—Cruz—."

Faith shook her head again, meeting his eyes reluctantly, "I didn't want her involved—it was my deal—you were _my_ partner."

"I didn't want—," it was futile to hide the pain written in his every feature now, "I just didn't want it to be you..." The truth of the matter was painful only because her actions had consequences. Maybe not by the law anymore, but this was something she would have to live with for the rest of her life. He did not want her to live with something like this. And he could not help but blame himself.

Faith knew the reason for the sadness evident in his dark blue eyes, and all she wanted to do was reassure him. Cease the nonsense of his self-inflicted torture, she dealt with what she did everyday, but never once did she regret doing it, "and I didn't want it to be you..." Faith replied, wiping quickly at the tear that had escaped her eye, "there's not a day that goes by that I don't wish it hadn't been you that night—but I can't change what he did—what I did."

Bosco nodded slowly, "I know—."

"Bos?"

"Hmm?"

She looked at him again, "where do we go from here?"

He met her eyes as his hand slowly crossed the divide. He reached and pulled her hand from her lap, lacing his fingers between hers. His cool eyes never leaving her face as he spoke, "we're both still here, Faith—that's all that matters now."

She smiled at him and for the first time that night, he smiled back.


End file.
